Vertical and horizontal shades or blinds are conventional decorative window coverings that provide comfort by filtering the sunlight entering a room through a window. There are various styles of vertical and horizontal shades or blinds, such as rollers with a single panel construction or Roman or Venetian blinds having multiple panel or slat constructions. Many styles of window shades or blinds are retractable while other styles, such as Venetian blinds, may also be retractable and have rotatable slats for filtering light.
With many types of vertical and horizontal shades or blinds, a control loop, such as a control chain or cord, may be used for operating the window shade or blind. The control loop, or multiple control loops when multiple window shades or blinds are operated on the same window, often extends vertically adjacent one side of the window shade or blind for ready access by an operator. Each control loop has two vertical runs so that an operator can pull on one run to cause the shade or blind to retract or open, and pull on the other run to cause the shade or blind to lower or close.
For those styles of window shades or blinds with rotatable slats, adjustments are made to control the amount of light entering a room through the window by rotating each slat. In a fully open orientation of the slats, the maximum amount of light passes into the room through the window. Conversely, by rotating the slats to a fully closed orientation, the minimum amount of light passes into the room through the window as the light is essentially blocked. Rotation of the slats may occur by way of another control loop, such as a control chain or cord. The control loop for controlling rotation of the slats may also extend vertically on one side of the window shade or blind and have two vertical runs for ready access by an operator.
Known control loops typically form a continuous loop adjacent one or both sides of the window, with the control loop having two vertical runs and an end loop located at the lower end of the control loop. While this configuration for the control loop provides for easy operation of the window shade or blind by an operator, the control loop may pose a threat to small children since the children may become entangled with or strangled by the control loop when they place their heads between the pair of vertical runs. On the other hand, older children, i.e., those typically beyond the toddler years, typically have sufficient strength and coordination to detangle themselves from a control loop should that accidentally occur.
While several known control loop safety devices have been developed in the past in an attempt to reduce the threat associated with these types of control loops, there are still problems and drawbacks with these known safety devices that need to be addressed and better solutions proffered.